Car rental issue

[newby123]

Not sure if this has happened to anyone else. In the mist of the issues with the government not allowing cars to be transferred from STT to STJ we reserved a car with Hospitality to ensure we would have a car available. Since the car trasnfer issue has been resolved, we decided we would stay with Amalie and cancel the car rented through Hospitality. Rather than hold the credit card until our arrival, Hospitality charged our AMEX the full amount the day after our reservation was taken. I was having a lot of problems getting the amount refunded, so I disputed the charge with AMEX. Hospitality has continued to be difficult as best to agree to refund the amount. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any other suggestions other than disputing the charge with AMEX?

[mindehankins]

Well, that's pretty unhospitable! They probably knew that the injunction was short lived, and put the charges through hoping it would dissuade you from changing your plans. They don't have a website to explain their policies. All I can think of is to dispute their charge with Amex. I might consider also calling the governor's office and asking for his intervention. I'm sorry this happened.
When is your trip?

[ShelleyZ]

Have you talked to Thomas at Hospitality? Our experience with him was very personal and very good, but it is a small operation. Perhaps island time and human error are contributing factors. May I suggest another phone conversation?

I remember him as a very decent and responsive man.

[newby123]

Our trip is next week. We leave Saturday! I have spoken to Thomas several times, as well as other people. Each one said that it would be taken care of. They all were very inquisitive as to why I was canceling the reservation. AMEX can not really do anything right now because Hospitiality can still present documentation. Thanks for the advice.

[PA Girl]

Interesting. Does the agency have a cancellation policy?

Assuming the charge wasn't clearly disclosed as a cancellation fee, Amex will reverse the charge.

We use heavy users of Amex for work and a big part of that is hotel and vehicle/equipment rentals. We run into similar situations a couple of times a year - make a reservation, schedules change, reservations are cancelled/changed, vendor doesn't reverse the charges, I dispute the charges and Amex takes care of it. I have never had a dispute go in favor of the other party. More often then not, it is a case where someone thought someone else in the office is taking care of it, nothing gets done until Amex gives them a nudge.

And yes, there is a period of time that the vendor has to respond to the inquiry. 15 days seems to stick in my memory.